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[German Version] (Jan 2, 1549, Lippstadt – Feb 16, 1615, Cologne), Catholic priest, Bible translator, and psalmist. After studying in Wittenberg, he converted from Lutheranism to Catholicism in 1572. He served as a parish priest in Kaiserswerth (1576–1583) and Cologne (1583–1594); he also taught at the Laurentianum in Cologne (1592–1611) and served as rector of the university (1610–1612). He promoted the Counter-Reformation in many catechetical works. A revised version of his Bible translation (pr…

[German Version] (Dec 12, 1634, Cochem – Sep 10, 1712, Waghäusel), Capuchin (1653), theologian, and popular writer. After ordination to the priesthood (1657/1658), Martin taught in the order's houses of studies, served as a pastor and a official visitor in the dioceses of Mainz (1682–1685) and Trier (1698/1699), and occasionally as a domestic missionary in Passau, Linz, and Prague. He was one of the most important writers of popular religious literature and an exponent of passion piety. His explanation of the mass ( Meßerklärung, 1695; ET: Cochem's Explanation of the Holy Sacrifi…

[German Version] (Jan 16, 1655, Soulage – Dec 21, 1741, Paris), Order of St. Benedict (1676), member of the Maurists (Congrégation de S. Maur), theologian and editor of patristic texts. Born into a noble family of southern France and already introduced to scholarly life as a child, he served in the military from 1672 to 1674. After joining the Benedictine congregation of the Maurists, he lived in various monasteries before coming to Paris in 1687 in order to contribute to the congregation's publications, especially the editions of the Greek church fathers ( Athanasius, 3 vols., 1698). …

[German Version] (Peter Kanis until c. 1547; May 8, 1521, Nijmegen – Dec 21, 1597, Fribourg, ¶ Switzerland) contributed to the renewal of the Catholic Church after the Reformation. Residing in Cologne from 1535 onward, he became the first German Jesuit in 1543. He turned to Charles V of Germany for support against the reforming attempt of the archbishop of Cologne (Hermann of Wied). After a brief stay at the Council of Trent and the continuation of his Jesuit training in Rome …

[German Version] (Feb 19, 1552, Vienna, Austria – Sep 18, 1630, Wiener Neustadt, Austria), was reared a Protestant and converted to Catholicism under the influence of the Jesuits. He was cathedral provost and chancellor of the university in Vienna (1579), Passau official for Lower Austria (1580), administrator of the diocese of Wiener Neustadt (1588–1630), bishop of Vienna (1598/1602–1630), and cardinal (1615). From 1590, he was active under Emperor Rudolph II in the Counter-Reformation, and joine…

[German Version] (Ger. Görz) is an archdiocese, a city and province in Friaul, Italy; mentioned after 1001 as a duchy of the reeves of the patriarchate of Aquileia. Around 1500, the duchy came into the possession of the Habsburgs. Gorizia's ecclesiastical affiliation with Venetian Aquileia led to tensions with Austria until Pope Benedict XIV, under pressure from Maria Theresia, dissolved Aquileia and established the archdioceses of Udine for the Venetian segment and Gorizia for the Austrian segmen…

[German Version] (Mar 1549, Medina del Campe, Castile – May 24, 1603, Naples), SJ (1565), and besides his disciple, Adam Tanner, the most important post-Tridentine theologian in Germany. He studied in Salamanca (1566–1568 and 1571/72) and Valladolid (1569–1571), and was professor of dogmatics and controversial theology in Dillingen from 1573. He was in Ingolstadt from 1575 to 1592, and in Rome from 1597 to 1602, where he defended L. de Molina in the dispute over grace. He commented on all the impo…

[German Version] (Jan 18, 1743, Amboise, Département Indre-et-Loire – Oct 13, 1803, Paris), French theosophist (Theosophy). After study-¶ ing law and pursuing a military career, in 1771 he got to know Martinez de Pasqualis (1715–1799) in Bordeaux, who introduced him to mystical Freemasonry (Freemasons). This group of “Martinists,” with its center in Lyon, practiced a mysticism drawn from kabbalistic sources (Kabbalah: II), in which magical and theurgic rites played a role. In his travels he encountered other myst…

[German Version] ( Jan 11, 1638, Copenhagen – Dec 5, 1686, Schwerin) studied languages, anatomy, and mathematics in Copenhagen, Amsterdam, and Leiden. His anatomical discoveries soon gained him the reputation as a scientist. In 1666 he was appointed physician to the court in Florence, where he converted to Catholicism. Discoveries during various expeditions placed him amongthe founders of scientific geology, paleontology, and crystallography. After ordination to the priesthood in 1675, he was appo…

[German Version] (Oct 12, 1559, Riom – Oct 7, 1651, Paris), French Jesuit (1576). From 1581 to 1590 he taught in Pont-à-Mousson and Paris (where Francis of Sales was one of his students). From 1590 to 1608 he served as secretary to C. Aquaviva, the superior general of the Jesuits, in Rome, where he also worked with C. Baronius. In 1617 he was appointed rector of the Collège de Clermont in Paris. From 1637 to 1643 he was the confessor of Louis XIII. He wrote scholarly works on history and the history of dogma. He distinguished ¶ between Dionysius of Paris and Dionysius Areopagita, wrote on p…

[German Version] (Mar 27, 1562, Markdorf – Jan 18, 1625, Ingolstadt), SJ (1679), a controversial theologian. He taught initially at the Jesuit gymnasia in Freiburg, Switzerland and Ingolstadt; after 1589, he was professor of philosophy, then of scholastic theology (1592–1605) and moral theology in Ingolstadt (1610–1615). After the departure of his teacher Gregory of Valencia, he was the leader of the Jesuits in Bavaria and adviser to the dukes (i.e. the Bavarian elector). He harshly persecuted all…

[German Version] (Sep 16, 1730, Lohr – Feb 14, 1795, Würzburg) was the pro-reform prince-bishop of Würzburg and Bamberg. Under the bishop of Würzburg, Adam Friedrich v. Seinsheim, he became president of the secular administration of the diocese in 1763. In 1767 Joseph II called him to visit the Imperial Supreme Court in Wetzlar and in 1775 the continuing Reichstag at Regensburg. …

[German Version] (Jul 10, 1607, Bourges – Mar 17, 1667, Paris), French Jesuit (1623), theologian, philologist, and editor of sources pertaining to church history. After lecturing in Caen, Bourges, and Paris, Labbé worked mainly as an author. An erudite compiler with many interests (geography, chronology, patristics, Byzantine studies), he wrote more than 80 works and was regarded as one of the leading scholars of his time. His most important publication is the compilation of the acts of the counci…

[German Version] (Aug 25, 1619, Aix-en-Provence – Dec 24, 1695, Paris), Catholic theologian and canonist. He joined the Oratorians in 1633 and served as professor of theology at Saumur (1648) and Paris (1653). Removed from his teaching duties on account of doctrinal differences, after 1673 he devoted himself to historical studies, primarily applying historical methods to the study of canon law. Rolf Decot Bibliography P. Clair, Louis Thomassin, 1964 (bibl.; Fr.) F.J. Busch, Lex Christi secundum naturam, 1975 (Ger.) H.J. Sieben, Die katholische Konzilsidee von der Reformation…

[German Version] (Jun 26, 1576, Pappenberg – Oct 18 1649, Padua), polymath, late Humanist, phi­lologist, controversial theologian, jurisprudent, and politician. The son of a Protestant pastor, he converted to Catholicism in Prague in 1598. In Rome from 1598 to 1607, he cultivated ties with the pope and the Curia. He was sent on several diplomatic missions in Germany and Italy on behalf of the Habsburgs, the Wittelsbachs, and the Curia. He wrote polemics against various ¶ schools of Protestantism. Around 1630, after the emperor’s victory in the Thirty Years War, Schoppe …

[German Version] (c. 1533, Casas de la Reina, Estremadura, Spain – Jan 5, 1583, Rome), Jesuit (1562) theologian and exegete. As a professor at the Jesuit college in Paris (1565), he turned his back on Scholasticism and developed a positive theology based on the Bible. His influence was impaired by accusations of ¶ heresy regarding the Immaculate Conception and purgatory. Despite opposition, Maldonado was very popular and successful, not least in debate with the Calvinists. In Rome he helped shape the Jesuit Ratio studiorum and was a member of the pontifical commission for the …

[German Version] (Petau; Aug 21, 1583, Orléans – Dec 11, 1652, Paris), French Jesuit (from 1605). Initially Petavius taught rhetoric in Reims, La Flèche, and Paris; from 1621 to 1644 he was professor of theology at the Collège de Clermont in Paris. He published significant editions of patristic texts (Synesius of Cyrene, Epiphanius of Salamis) and important studies on chronology. His major work, Theologica dogmatica, which bases the church’s teaching on Scripture and tradition, earned him a reputation as a pioneer of positive theology. He also wrote polemica…

[German Version] (Dec 6, 1835, Unterfinnigen – May 4, 1904, Ursberg), Catholic priest (1864), founder of the St. Joseph Congregation of Sisters (Joseph, Orders of Saint) for nursing, education, and teaching. In the secularized monastery of Ursberg, Ringeisen created in 1884 an institution for the care of the mentally handicapped, the so-called deaf and dumb, and the physically disabled. Further institutions were set up at Pfaffenhofen (1885), Bildhausen (1897), and Krönenbach (1901). Ringeisen is regarded as an initiator of support for the disabled in Bavaria. Rolf Decot Bibliogra…

[German Version] (papacy Sep 21, 1676 – Aug 12, 1689) (Benedetto Odescalchi, b. May 19, 1611, in Como). Odescalchi, made cardinal in 1645, served as legate in Ferrara from 1646 to 1650 and as bishop of Novara from 1650 to 1656. He was renowned for his exemplary lifestyle and concern for the poor. After a two-month conclave, he was unanimously elected pope in 1676, after the resistance of France, who had opposed him in 1670, was overcome. Within the church, he sought a middle way in the controversy…

[German Version] (May 31, 1732, Vienna – May 20, 1812, ibid.) was the last prince-archbishop of Salzburg. His family (his father, and later his brother, were imperial vice-chancellors) secured his accession to ecclesiastical positions from early on: cathedral canon in Salzburg in 1747, auditor of the Rota in Rome in 1759, bishop of Gurk by appointment of Maria Theresia in 1761. In the latter function, his administration was marked by reform-Catholic tendencies. Elected a…